Jade Maiden Peak's back mountain, the Cliff of Reflection.
Shi Xuanfei sat alone on a massive boulder, its surface worn smooth by the mountain wind. She wasn't wearing her usual resplendent Peak Master robes, but a simple green dress with a plain white cloak over it, wrapped tightly around herself. She gazed blankly toward Qingxia Mountain, veiled in mist and clouds.
Yang Ning's quick thinking and meticulous analysis had indeed far exceeded her expectations. Still, he was an outsider. He could only guess at the broad strokes, and what he'd said wasn't entirely right.
She truly was, as Yang Ning had said, someone who valued affection deeply. To her, every Inner Sect Disciple on Jade Maiden Peak was like her own child, or a younger sister who needed her protection. Every blade of grass and tree, every brick and tile on the peak, held the shared effort of her and her disciples. Even the distinctive graffiti outside the sleeping quarters and the words of blessing the disciples had secretly written were treasures she cherished and would never allow anyone to desecrate.
Naturally, her feelings for Yun Zishan ran even deeper, beyond the need for explanation. One was as cold as ice, the other as passionate as fire, yet both possessed peerless talent and extraordinary beauty. From childhood, they'd been targets of secret envy and exclusion by many in the sect. In that environment, they'd supported each other, gradually becoming confidantes who shared everything, as close as sisters.
She indeed didn't want Yun Zishan to become Sect Master. Just as Yang Ning had analyzed, she firmly believed Yun Zishan's character was flawed, making her unfit for the position. Yun Zishan was too uncompromising about principles, poor at socializing, cold and rigid, and unable to adapt... How could someone like that manage such a vast sect and balance the tangled interests of the Twelve Main Peaks and Twenty West Auxiliary Peaks?
She could clearly foresee that if Yun Zishan really took that seat, she'd inevitably be exhausted in body and mind, tormented day after day. Under her leadership, the Sword Sect would be highly likely to decline. She hardly dared imagine how her senior sister, so deeply responsible and fiercely competitive, would face it all. The prospect of her Dao Heart suffering damage and demonic thoughts taking root was no exaggeration.
Her gaze fell on the old residence on distant Qingxia Mountain, sealed off for nearly a century, and her thoughts drifted back fifty years.
It was just before her master, Qingxia Fairy, entered the Supreme Cave Mansion to cultivate in seclusion.
In her memory, her master sat on a meditation cushion, gently stroking the head of Shi Xuanfei, who knelt before her. Her voice was full of concern.
"Fei'er, that knot in your senior sister's heart... I'm afraid I no longer have time to undo it for her myself. You two are as close as sisters. I only hope that, in the future... you can help her more."
"But, Master..." Shi Xuanfei had looked troubled. "I... How am I supposed to help Senior Sister?"
Qingxia Fairy clasped Shi Xuanfei's hand tightly in her palm, her gaze kind. "Fei'er, you're naturally cheerful and open-minded, with a keen and clever heart. I've never had to worry about you. But your senior sister... She's reserved and stubborn, and carries too much in her heart. I've never been able to stop worrying about her."
"Your senior sister will surely contend for the Sect Master's position one day. But her temperament... really isn't suited for it. So I hope... that you'll run for that position instead."
"Me?" Shi Xuanfei had pointed at herself in astonishment, unable to believe it.
"Yes." Qingxia Fairy's tone was almost pleading. "I know you have no interest in that position. But if your senior sister really becomes Sect Master, it won't be good for her or the sect."
"Your senior sister is strong-willed. I can't tell her these things to her face; I fear it would only have the opposite effect. So I can only entrust this hope to you. Your senior sister is fixated on this because she wants to make up for my regret from back then. But you're my disciple too! If you take that position, your senior sister's knot can be undone all the same, and the sect can be entrusted to someone more suitable... That's how we can have the best of both worlds."
The wind at the Cliff of Reflection was fierce and bleak. Shi Xuanfei instinctively pulled her cloak tighter and gazed at the sleeping quarters, laden with so many memories. Recalling her master's words from that day, her eyes gradually blurred with tears.
She admitted that her feelings for Yun Zishan ran deep. To fulfill her promise to her master, she could give up the peaceful, carefree life she loved on Jade Maiden Peak and take part in the Sect Master election she loathed. She could devote the endless years ahead to the sect's complicated, tedious affairs, exhausting herself with worry and effort.
She asked herself honestly: she loved her master, the disciples under her care, and Yun Zishan. They mattered more to her than she did to herself. Just as Yang Ning had said, she loved others more than she loved herself. She didn't even know what it meant to love herself.
But! She, Shi Xuanfei, had her own convictions and bottom line! There was no way she'd do something as utterly shameless as "disrespecting herself" or "seducing him" for Yun Zishan—or, rather, for the sake of that promise, as Yang Ning had guessed!
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